Simply Sirius
by Reilly Sparcs-Malfoy
Summary: LJ through our favorite marauder's eyes---FICTION DISCONTINUED...SEE APOLOGY INSIDE.
1. Going to Hogwarts

Sirius's First  
  
Chapter 1  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything here, because all of these characters belong to J.K. Rowling who created them!!!! All of this material is not mine, and I do not own it. (Well, except for the characters I created. I do own those.) Thank you!  
  
Ok, this is starting off at the train station in Sirius Black's first year, from his P.O.V.  
  
I ran with my trolley towards the barrier, my parents trailing behind me. I was late for my meeting with my best friend, James Potter. We had decided to meet at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 at 10:30, and it was already 10:35.  
  
As I approached, James grinned at me, shaking his head. "Late again, are we Sirius?" he asked with a laugh.  
  
I panted back, "Well, what do you expect? I mean, there were Muggles all over, and it was hard to get through, and-"  
  
"Oh, Sirius, stop making up excuses. Hello James, how are you dear?" my mother interrupted me.  
  
"I'm fine, thanks," James replied politely. It was funny to see him looking so innocent. I snickered, and he glared at me. "Mrs. Black, you must excuse us though. We should hurry through in order to get good seats on the train," he continued with an angelic smile at my mum.  
  
"Oh, of course dear, bless your soul. Now, Sirius, I don't want to hear about you causing any more trouble, you hear me? If I get even one owl about your behavior, I'm going to……ooooh, you will sure be sorry!!!" she said, turning on me.  
  
"Yes Mum," I squeaked. I could never understand why she always yelled at me, even though I hadn't done anything wrong (yet).  
  
"Oh, Diana, give the boy a break. He'll behave as long as he stays with young James here," my father told my mum.  
  
"Oh, all right. Well, boys, have a wonderful school year. We love you, and stay out of trouble!" Mum called after us.  
  
"Write us lots!" yelled Dad.  
  
"Okay, bye Mum! Bye Dad!" I yelled back.  
  
"Bye Mr. and Mrs. Black!" James called to them.  
  
With that, we rushed through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾.  
  
  
  
After we had found an empty compartment and had settled in, a pair of boys about our age stuck their heads in.  
  
One of them, a tall boy with light brown hair and muddy brown eyes said, "Can we sit with you two? Every other place is packed."  
  
James looked at me. I nodded, and he nodded back. "Sure. I'm Sirius Black," I answered.  
  
"And I'm James Potter."  
  
"I'm Remus Lupin," said the tall boy.  
  
The other, a short, rather round person with dirty blond hair and slightly squinty blue eye said, "I'm Peter Pettigrew."  
  
The two sat down, and we started talking about Hogwarts and various other things. After several games of Exploding Snap and an argument about quidditch teams, we were restless. Remus suggested meeting other people, and we all agreed on this. (Actually, James and I did mainly because we wanted to know our prank targets better.)  
  
The first compartments were so full of people that we decided not to talk to anybody. It would have gotten confusing, so we simply stood out of the way. The next bunch weren't filled too much, but they contained older students, and we weren't interested in meeting them. Then, we came to one that only had four girls in it. They looked about our age, so we stepped in.  
  
"Hi! I'm James Potter. This is Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," James stated, pointing to each of us as he said our name,  
  
A green-eyed redhead stood up. "I'm Lily Evans. This is Quinn Thompson, Juniper Connin, and Rika Jordan," she responded, pointing to each of her friends. One of them, the one Lily had said was Rika, stood out from the rest. She had a very striking appearance, with long blonde hair and black eyes. Her skin was paper pale, which only made her eyes stand out more. I didn't know why, but somehow I could tell that there was something different about her.  
  
"Wait, Quinn Thompson? Are you Josh Thompson's little sister?" Remus asked, eyes wide. Josh Thompson was a world famous chaser for the Wimbourne Wasps.  
  
Quinn smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's me all right." She had chocolate brown hair tied up in a ponytail and clear gray eyes. These eyes stared fearlessly at us, measuring us up.  
  
Lily inquired in a somewhat snobby tone, "What are you guys doing here anyways?"  
  
"Meeting people. Is that allowed?" I retorted.  
  
"Well yeah, but then why are you staying here?" she shot back.  
  
"Because we feel like it," snapped James.  
  
"That was weak James, really weak," I muttered to him with a grin.  
  
He grinned back. "I know, but oh well. Well, girls, is it ok if we stay here for a while?"  
  
After looking at the others for agreement, Juniper said, "Sure, as long as you don't start acting like jerks. And by the way, are you two brothers?" Her blue eyes looked at us questioningly, and she ran a hand through her shoulder-length hair.  
  
James and I said, "Who me?" at the same time. Everyone let out a short laugh, and James and I looked at each other. For the first time, I realized that we did have similar looks. We both had black hair, though his was messy and mine was straight. We both had gray eyes, but his were framed with glasses. We were both tall, though I was a bit shorter than he. All in all, we did look like brothers.  
  
"No," I said after a moment. "But we are best friends."  
  
The girls accepted this. "Well, before you came, we were talking about what houses we wanted to be in. I want to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw," Rika said.  
  
"Gryffindor or Hufflepuff for me!" announced Juniper.  
  
"Only Gryffindor for me," said Quinn.  
  
"It doesn't matter to me, as long as it's not Slytherin," shrugged Lily.  
  
"What about you guys?" asked Rika.  
  
After a moment of thought, James said, "Well, I really hope for Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are okay too, I guess."  
  
"Yeah, same here," I said.  
  
"Ditto," added Remus.  
  
"Same here, I guess…….but, um, guys?" Peter interrupted, looking somewhat nervous. "We should go back, 'cause it's only half an hour until we reach Hogwarts, and we still need to change."  
  
"Oh, right," James said, and looked at me. I nodded, took one last look at Rika, still curious about the odd feeling I had about her, and said, "Bye girls. See ya inside."  
  
"Bye," chorused Juniper, Quinn, and Rika. Lily hadn't said a word; she looked rather pouty.  
  
"Bye Lila. Cheer up, will ya?" James smirked at her.  
  
"My name is NOT Lila!" she yelled angrily.  
  
"Ok, whatever. Bye," James said. We left the girls and went back to out compartment. (On our way out, I think I heard Lily mutter, "And I must have misheard him when he said his name was James. He must have really said Jerk!")  
  
  
  
An hour later, we were inside the Great Hall. The Sorting Ceremony was about to begin!  
  
We waited nervously in line. I was one of the first to be sorted. After Anderson, Jacob, Abbot, Laura, and Barret, Karen were sorted, my name was called.  
  
"Black, Sirius!"  
  
I nervously stepped forward, trying not to let anyone see the look of anxiety on my face. I sat down, and the teacher placed the ragged Sorting Hat on my head.  
  
"Hmmm, very difficult you are, young Black. Yes, I see a definite wealth of knowledge, so Ravenclaw would be a nice place for you, but there's also a very, very strong spot of a hard worker in you, so Hufflepuff could be great also. Then again, I see a love of rule breaking and being on top, so Slytherin could be the place for you, but that is all overruled by a great courage. Yes, you have the courage and other qualities that belong to a GRYFFINDOR!!!" the Hat said to me, shouting this last word to everyone else. There was applause, and the teacher took the hat off my head.  
  
I walked to the Gryffindor table, waving at my friends and wearing a shocked grin. Sitting down, a prefect with red hair and a ton of freckles said, "Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Arthur Weasley, and if you have any questions, just ask me."  
  
"Okay, thanks!" I said to him. Then I watched the rest of the sorting.  
  
We were sorted in this order (with other people in between): Juniper, Lily, Rika, Remus, Peter, James, and Quinn. We were in the following houses (respectively): Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, and Gryffindor. All of us got through it in a reasonably calm, dignified manner. Except, when Rika was being sorted, she went even paler then usual for a moment, and closed her eyes. I made a mental note to talk to James about her.  
  
We were led to the Gryffindor Common Room by 3 prefects: Arthur, whom I had already met, a girl named Molly Figg, who appeared to be his girlfriend, and a tall, black haired girl named Minerva McGonagall.  
  
After walking down several corridors and up several staircases, we arrived at a painting of a very fat lady in a ridiculously ruffled pink dress. "Well, hello there! Welcome to Hogwarts, first years! Now, Minerva, what's the password?" she said in a cheery voice.  
  
Minerva looked at us over her horn-rimmed spectacles. "In order to get into the common room, you must tell the Fat Lady the password. It changes occasionally, and currently, it is quozzelbee. Now, if you forget this password, you won't be able to get into the common room unless you have someone with you that knows it. Also, do not, under any circumstances, reveal the password to anyone from another house," She told us with a rigidly strict tone of voice.  
  
"Minerva, you're scaring them," Molly pointed out. To this, Minerva just scowled and said, "Well, they need to learn the rules."  
  
And with that, the Fat Lady's portrait swung open, and we stepped inside.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Ok, you read it, now review it please!!!!! If enough people like it, I'll write another chapter ASAP!!!! Also, if you want, you can email me at unicorn726@admin.balita.org but make sure that you make the subject "fanfic" (or at least include that in it). Thanks!!!!  
  
  
  
~Torq 


	2. Halloween and Christmas

Simply Sirius  
  
Chapter 2  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything here, because all of these characters belong to the people who created them!!!! All of this material is not mine, and I do not own it. (Well, except for the characters I created. I do own those.) Thank you!  
  
This chapter is a bit on the long side, so...  
  
*Again, this is from Sirius Black's POV.  
  
After a few minutes of looking around the common room, we went to the dormitories. Luckily, our stuff had been stowed in a room with only four beds.  
  
"We got a room to ourselves! Oh yeah!" James cheered.  
  
"I got this bed!" I yelled, running for the one closest to a window.  
  
An hour later, we were all settled in. My bed was located, as previously mentioned, closest to the window and farthest from the door. Next to me was James, then Remus, then Peter. Peter and Remus started a game of chess, and James came over and sat on my bed next to me.  
  
"Well Sirius, I can't believe we're actually here! Hogwarts at last!" James sighed.  
  
"Yeah, it's so weird. After all those years of dreaming of magic, now we're gonna learn it!" I replied, equally happy. "But, James, there's one thing that's bothering me. It's Rika."  
  
James frowned. "You mean that blonde chick who's a friend of the redhead? Lily's friend? Yeah, what about her?"  
  
"Well, I don't know, there's just something weird about her.."  
  
"Wait a second, Siri, do you...?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you, you know....like her?"  
  
"OF COURSE NOT!!!!"  
  
"Well, sorry, but-"  
  
"JAMES POTTER, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD THINK SUCH A THING!!"  
  
"Sorry! Anyway, what's weird about her? She's just a girl."  
  
I sighed. Peter was arguing with Remus about whether or not the move he had made was legal. "James, first of all, I don't like girls. They're all giggly, and very annoying. You should know that, being as you have a little sister!"  
  
James shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But what's the problem with Rika?"  
  
"Her eyes. She's so pale, yet her eyes are...black! And during the sorting ceremony, did you see what happened?"  
  
"No, I was poking Remus. Hehe, he makes the funniest faces..."  
  
"Oh. Well, for some reason, her face went really pale, and I dunno..it just seems odd that that would happen during the Sorting Ceremony."  
  
"Siri, it's probably nothing. Don't worry about it, okay?"  
  
"Okay..."  
  
Just then, we heard a loud crash, and Remus stood up, yelling, "I WON!!! I BEAT THE BLOODY HELL OUTA YA, PETE!!!!"  
  
James and I laughed, and after another victory cheer, Remus proposed that we got into the common room. Everyone agreed, and we left.  
  
  
  
We weren't alone there. The girls from the train were seated in the armchairs next to the fireplace, and Lily glared at James as we approached. He returned the glare with a sarcastically sweet smile. I snorted, Remus shook his head (trying to hide a smile), Peter was looking around nervously, and the other girls tried to hide laughs.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked.  
  
James answered, "Oh, lots of things."  
  
"Like what?" Lily snarled.  
  
"Well, breathing, thinking, blinking, you know, living in general. And, talking to your lovely self, of course," James said smugly.  
  
Lily's face took on an odd shade of red. I burst out laughing and had to excuse myself. When I came back, Remus was desperately trying to get Lily and James to stop biting each other's heads off. Peter was just looking around nervously, as usual. I began to think that that was all he did. Juniper and Rika were watching the argument with interest, and Quinn was trying to help Remus.  
  
I joined Remus and Quinn, and within an hour, the two were separated. We went back to our dormitories, Lily and James glowering at each other all the way.  
  
That was how things were for the first month. Lily and James were constantly at each other's throats, while Quinn and Remus tried to keep them calm. Peter did his usual nervous looks, while Juniper and Rika watched the quarrelling, occasionally joining in the argument. I joined in to assist James a lot, but usually when I did, Remus would whack me and bellow at me about how I wasn't helping. Sometimes, though, I started squabbling with Rika about something she had said to defend Lily, and we would get in our own little fight. (At that point, Remus and Quinn would just roll their eyes and leave us alone.)  
  
In addition to these uncontrollable rows, we pulled a number of harmless pranks on the girls. (Well, Peter said that they weren't harmless, but Peter's a wimp, you can't take what he says seriously!) They were mostly little things, like spiders in their dorm, and trick wands during class. The girls retaliated a bit with something more embarrassing. As it turned out, Juniper was a wonderful artist, and sometimes we would wake up to the sound of laughter. It came from the common room, where people were staring at exaggerated if not reasonably accurate drawings of us sleeping, eating, and doing all sorts of things in an absurd manner.  
  
On the first day of October, James was oddly quiet. He even passed through breakfast without speaking to Lily. We asked him if he was all right, and he said yes, so we left him alone.  
  
By lunch, he still hadn't even looked at Lily, or any of the girls for that matter. I knew something was up.  
  
Just before Transfiguration, James pulled me aside and said, "Sirius, you know what month it is right?"  
  
"Um, yeah, it's October, but I don't see-"  
  
"October is mischief month," James cut me off. Just at that moment, Lily let out a loud laugh, and we glanced at her, then back at each other. I smiled slowly, realizing what James had been thinking about.  
  
"We are so bad," I said  
  
"Oh yeah, you better believe it!" James laughed. Then, Remus came up, followed by Peter.  
  
"What's up guys?" asked Peter. I grinned at James.  
  
"Trouble," we told him. Then, we explained our idea to him and Remus on the way to class.  
  
The plan was this: we would construct the ultimate flashy stink bomb, especially for the girls. Over the next 3 weeks, we spent all of our spare time experimenting with Dungbombs and Filibuster's Fireworks. The girls may have suspected something because we were so quiet and peaceful (in appearance), but they didn't take it seriously.  
  
Just 4 days before Halloween, we were ready. Our bombs were perfect, and packed away in old Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans boxes. Looking them over, we grinned at each other. James and I gave each other a high five, and Peter even relaxed enough to let out a laugh.  
  
On Halloween, we picked up the candy boxes and tried to look as innocent and sorry as possible. (According to Remus, it didn't go too well for me and James.) We were as nice as possible to the girls at the feast, but only because it was in our plans. (James was struggling not to make a remark to Lily. It helped that she refused to speak to us at all.)  
  
Later, in the common room, we went to the girls at their usual spot in the armchairs near the fireplace. "Girls, listen, we really, um." James started. He trailed off as Lily sent him an icy stare.  
  
"We have Halloween candy for you as a way of saying sorry, because we really feel bad about the way we've been treating you all," I picked up quickly.  
  
"Yeah, and so, do you accept our peace offering? 'Cause, we really mean it," added Remus. Peter further emphasized this with a furious head nod.  
  
Juniper looked us over carefully. "Well, I don't know.." she said.  
  
"Yeah, you guys might just be pulling a prank or something," said Rika.  
  
"I don't trust 'em at all!" shouted Lily, pure hatred on her face.  
  
"Wait gals, we're serious! We really are sorry for being such jerks!" I announced, desperate to pull it off.  
  
The girls just looked at me. "Well, Sirius Black, either you're a very good actor or you're telling the truth. And, being as you aren't very good at anything, I'm guessing you're telling the truth," Rika assessed.  
  
I let out my breath with relief. "Great, then you girls just enjoy the candy!" James told them.  
  
"Thanks," Lily said, smiling at us for the first time. The girls got up and went to their dormitory, and we took their seats in the armchairs.  
  
"I can't believe they bought it!" whispered Peter.  
  
"Yeah, I know. That was great acting, Sirius! Rika sure has you wrong," James said.  
  
"Thanks," I replied.  
  
"Yea, Siri, I'm glad I got better in time to see that!" Remus added. He had been sick for the previous week, and we were worried that he wouldn't make it to the feast. Fortunately, the sickness was only there for exactly a week, just as it was last month.....?  
  
I was pondering this when the sound of fireworks went off, accompanied by screams.  
  
"They opened it!" gasped Peter.  
  
We ran to the stairway leading to the girls' dormitories, where clouds of smoke, stars, and the stench of Dungbombs was coming from. Seconds later, Lily, Rika, Quinn, and Juniper came running out, coughing. James, Remus, Peter and I were on the floor, laughing. The looks on their faces were so hilarious that even Remus had lost all dignity, and even Peter had lost all nervousness.  
  
Then, Lily was at us. "JAMES POTTER, I WILL KILL YOU!!! I AM GONNA MURDER YOU, YOU BLOODY BEAST!!!" she screamed, beginning to kick him.  
  
Arthur, Molly, and Minerva came over and separated them. Remus, Peter, and I rushed over to calm James while Rika, Quinn, and Juniper ran over to pacify Lily. As we dragged James to the dorm, I heard Rika whisper to Lily, "Don't worry, Lils. We can get them bad. We can get them so bad, they'll wish that they'd never even looked at us."  
  
For the first time, I began to get worried. Perhaps these girls weren't such easy targets after all.  
  
~*Author's note: Now, should I end it here? No, I won't, because one of my friends, (aHEM) would kill me if I did. So read on! *~  
  
  
  
We woke up to the girls' revenge the very next day. Before opening my eyes, I yawned, and said, "James? You awake?"  
  
He replied in a strangely alert tone, "Sirius, you are not going to believe this."  
  
I opened my eyes and nearly fainted. Stuffed into our dorm room were all the jack-o'-lanterns from the Great Hall during the feast. Somehow, the girls had gotten them all into our room, and they were floating around, giving us about 4 feet of space between them and the ground. (And the ceilings are normally 10 feet high!)  
  
I heard a sigh from the other end of the room. "Well, I guess they got us this time," Peter mumbled.  
  
James clenched his fist and proclaimed, "This means war."  
  
Remus groaned. "Oh great, here we go!" Just at that moment, the pumpkins started to make noise. At first, some were just whispering. But then, minute by minute, they got louder and louder, until every pumpkin in the room was screaming, yelling, or laughing as loudly as possible. They didn't stop until Arthur came in and used a silencing spell.  
  
After that, our pranks got more frequent, and every week, we had at least one detention. The girls, who were for some reason calling themselves the Unicorns, also got regular detentions, though not as many as us. The eight of us were ruthless.  
  
For Christmas, we all decided to stay, partially because the girls were staying and partially because our families were basically busy. Well, James's parents and sister had gone to visit a great-aunt, Peter's parents were busy with settling arguments amongst the mermaids of the Mediterranean Sea, and I didn't want to go home because of my older brother. Remus decided to stay because we all were, and besides, he had already gotten his week-long illness. I was still wondering about that, but couldn't quite figure it out.  
  
The thing that convinced me to stay was a letter that my older brother Warren sent me. As usual, it was nasty as ever, being as Warren is a nasty person. I think it's because he's a squib. You see, my family has wizarding roots that trace back to the ancient Greek times. However, for some reason, My older brother Warren isn't a wizard. Rather, he is as lacking in magic as a Muggle, thus making him a squib. It doesn't help that he hates magic in any way shape or form. Fortunately, he was 17, and was moving out in a year. This was probably what inspired him to send me the letter that he did. It was this:  
  
Dear Sirius,  
  
I have to say, life has improved much during your absence. Mum and Dad still do magic, but upon my requests, they don't all that much. Now, to cut straight to the point, I am writing to you regarding your Christmas vacation.  
  
As you know, this is my last year at home. I want this to be my best home Christmas ever, so please, I hope you choose not to come home. It would be so much better, and easier for me, because I plan on inviting my girlfriend and best friend Vernon Dursley to the house. If you do insist on coming here, you will not be allowed to speak a word about magic at all. I don't want you messing up my life.  
  
Sincerely, Warren Black  
  
  
  
Now, I forgot to mention one thing about my brother. In case you haven't noticed, he is rather formal and intensely rude.  
  
At any rate, our gang was staying, and the "Unicorns" were going home. At first, James was a bit glum, but when he heard about the girls going home, he cheered up a great deal. When he got an idea for a Christmas prank, he was even happier.  
  
Though the Potions teacher, Professor Fowl, would hate to admit it, I happen to be the best in the class. Because of this, James got the idea of me making a sort of truth potion. Not a top quality one, because Veritaserum is difficult for even fully qualified wizards to make, but a basic one. In addition, whoever drank the potion would have to say a secret into the bottle.  
  
The potion was ready two days before everyone left for break. We put it into four bottles, one for each girl, and then Remus enchanted the bottles to record the girls saying their secret, then return to us. We had then attached a To and From card to each bottle. Under the From part, we wrote "the Perfectly Ridiculous Super Jokers", the P in perfect for Peter, the R in ridiculous for Remus, and so on. (I think you get the message.) Peter left the bottles outside the girls' dorm room door on our way to dinner that night.  
  
We kept on laughing all through dinner. The only good thing about this was that we couldn't talk to the girls. However, it did get them suspicious. More than once, I saw Lily's eyes narrow, and she whispered something to Rika who then whispered something to Quinn, who passed the message to Juniper.  
  
At any rate, we got through the meal without too much havoc. (Okay, so Peter accidentally spilled salt into Quinn's pumpkin juice, which earned him a smack, but that's it. Well, besides when I "accidentally" kicked Lily under the table, and James "accidentally" knocked Rika's plate off the table, and Remus (really) accidentally knocked over Juniper's goblet.)  
  
On our way back to the common room, we were actually nervous about what we had done.  
  
"Sirius, do you think it'll work?"  
  
"Of course Peter, what could go wrong?"  
  
"James, he was asking me, and-"  
  
"What, you don't think it'll work?"  
  
"He didn't say that Remus, he just-"  
  
"It should work, okay? Let's just stop flipping out, and act calm, or the girls will suspect something," James said.  
  
"Um, I think they already do," Peter pointed out. I looked over to the armchairs near the fireplace, and saw the girls in a huddle, discussing something seriously.  
  
"Well, let's just go to bed now. There isn't much else we can do here," I said loudly, winking at my friends. In truth, we would just go to the dorm room and wait for the bottles to come back with the girls' secrets.  
  
At around 10:30 PM, our door burst open. The bottles came zooming in, and landed with a slight crash on the floor in front of Remus's bed. The door then slammed shut, and we were slightly stunned for a moment.  
  
James sighed and turned on a light. I did too, and got out of my bed to examine the bottles. They were whispering the same messages over and over again.  
  
James, Remus, and Peter joined me. We all picked up a bottle. Mine was the one we had sent to Rika, James got Lily's, Remus got Quinn's, and Peter got Juniper's.  
  
I held the bottle up to my ear, hardly daring to breathe. Perhaps this will tell me what's so odd about her, I thought. What I heard did indeed tell me, but not fully.  
  
"I...I'm not a human...I'm a..I'm..." the bottle whispered in Rika's voice. It trailed off there, leaving me quite stupefied. I heard James, Remus, and Peter snorting and trying to hold in bursts of laughter.  
  
"She.she has a purple bunny stuffed animal named Harry!" gasped James between smothered laughs.  
  
"Oh my god, you guys should hear this! Quinn..she..has a crush on her Muggle neighbor named Irwin!" Remus laughed as quietly as possible.  
  
"Listen to this! Juniper apparently has a stuffed anteater that she sings to every night!!" Peter burst out. We all started at that one. After five (or so) minutes of uncontrollable laughter, they remembered about me.  
  
"Hey Siri," James said, wiping away a tear of laughter, "what's Rika's secret?"  
  
At that, I got quiet. "Well, it says...it says she's not human."  
  
They stopped laughing and looked at me.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Peter timidly. I handed him the bottle. He listened for a second, then handed it to James, eyes wide. James did the same, handing it to Remus.  
  
"Guys, I sure don't know what's going on, but that it weird," said James slowly.  
  
"Yeah. We should look into this later," Remus said, yawning. "But for now, let's go to sleep. We can torture the girls in the morning."  
  
Surprised that he had taken this so lightly, we went back to bed. I meant to ask Remus why he didn't seem to care that Rika wasn't human, but I forgot during my sleep.  
  
In the morning, we went to the Great Hall for breakfast with huge grins on our faces. We had definitely not forgotten about the girls' secrets.  
  
They were already at the table. As we sat down, James said, "So, Lily, how's Harry?"  
  
She turned bright red and gasped furiously. But before she could reply, Remus said, "And Quinn, have you heard from Irwin recently?"  
  
Quinn too turned red and gasped, but she added a glare in Remus's direction. "How bout your stuffed anteater, Juniper? Does it like your singing?" Peter said timidly.  
  
Juniper's eyes opened wide and she glared coldly at him. He seemed to shrink away. I added quietly, "And Rika, if you aren't a human, then what are you?"  
  
The girls all looked at each other when I said that. Rika was enraged; she came over, slapped me across the face, and said in a deadly calm voice, "Sirius Black, you are so finished."  
  
Then all four of them stalked off to the common room.  
  
"Well, that got them," said James cheerfully.  
  
"Yeah, but what are they gonna do to us now?" Remus said. We looked at each other. After a moment, I shrugged.  
  
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see."  
  
  
  
We saw it when we got into the common room that night. Everyone was in there, pointing at the walls, laughing.  
  
The Unicorns came over to us. "Well, boys, we know that you sent us the potions," Lily started.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, it was totally obvious that Perfectly Ridiculous Super Jokers was an anagram for Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James," added Rika.  
  
"And since you were so kind to play that little truth trick on us." said Quinn.  
  
"We decided to reward you with a stocking decoration, being as it's Christmas. Or, rather, a decoration with your socks in it," Juniper finished, giggling.  
  
We finally got a good look at the walls. Our jaws dropped when we saw it.  
  
On each wall, there was a message written with our clothes. They read, "James is a jerk", "Sirius is stupid", "Remus is bizarre", and "Peter is a wimp". That wouldn't have been so bad, but they had dotted all the "i's" with our underwear.  
  
Following a second of shocked silence, the 8 of us got into a huge fight about it. It almost gor physical, but Minerva, Molly, and Arthur came over and stopped it. James screamed, "Lily Evans, I hate you!" as he was dragged to the dorm by Arthur.  
  
And so we spent the rest of our Christmas vacation hating the so- called Unicorns.  
  
Yeah, I know, wimpy ending, but sorry! I can't think of anything else. Ok, you read it, now review it please!!!!! If enough people like it, I'll write another chapter ASAP!!!! Also, if you want, you can email me at unicorn726@admin.balita.org but make sure that you make the subject "fanfic" (or at least include that in it). Thanks!!!!  
  
  
  
~Torq 


	3. Introduction to Snape & End of Year

Simply Sirius  
  
Chapter 3  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything here, because all of these characters belong to the people who created them!!!! All of this material is not mine, and I do not own it. (Well, except for the characters I created. I do own those.) Thank you!  
  
Without the girls around, we had a terrific vacation. We were free to go into the common room whenever we wanted, without worrying that the Unicorns would be there. James was thrilled; he didn't have to worry about arguing with Lily.  
  
We also had plenty of time to plan new pranks for the girls when they got back. All in all, we had a really great time during Christmas vacation.  
  
My family sent me 10 galleons and a wizard camera so I could take pictures for them. James gave me a Zonko's All-Purpose Prankster's Kit, and I got him the same thing. (We were glad, because now we had double the prank-pulling materials.) Remus gave me a book called Quidditch Through the Ages (because I completely love quidditch) and I gave him a book on super spells for defense against the dark arts. (I know, it seems boring, but Defense Against the Dark Arts was his best subject, and he loved doing extra credit work. I figured this book could help him.) I got a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans from Peter, and gave him a bag of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum.  
  
The rest of break was actually pretty uneventful. We played pranks on other Gryffindors and first-years from other houses, but they were all minor. Nobody seemed to mind too much other than one Slytherin and his pals.  
  
This Slytherin was quite possibly the most disgusting wizard I had ever met. He had greasy, oily black hair, pale, waxy skin, and a nose that resembled a toucan's beak. His name was Severus Snape, and he was the leader of a group of Slytherin goons. (Now, THEY were goons. Like, their tricks were just plain mean. OURS, on the other hand, were playful. I think.)  
  
From the moment I saw Snape at the Christmas Feast, I knew he was a perfect enemy, at least twice as good of a target as the Unicorns. While James, Remus, and Peter pigged out, I took a few moments to measure him up. He was busy eating and talking to his friends, so at first he didn't notice me. But then, James noticed how quiet I was and said, "Sirius? You okay, buddy?"  
  
Snape looked at us and noticed me looking at him. He glared at me, and I glared back. After another minute, he turned away. I grinned wickedly and glanced at James.  
  
"He is going down," I whispered.  
  
And, as I said, we did get him. Well, actually we ourselves didn't, but, rather, were the ones responsible for him being gotten. In truth, our prank wasn't all that brilliant. It was meant to be something stupid, but luckily, got taken quite seriously be a certain someone……  
  
You see, all we did was write a message on Snape's back. Okay, so we did it with spit balls during breakfast one day, but still…it wasn't a big deal. We did it more to amuse ourselves, for it was incredibly hilarious to see little white dots stick to his robes. Then, Peter (can you believe it?) came up with the idea to write a message with them. We had Remus do it, because he was the best aim, and he knew how to use his wand to guide them.  
  
After about an hour, Severus had "drive me crazy" written on his back. It really wasn't a horrible thing, it just made us suffocate with laughter whenever we saw it. (Fortunately, none of his friends saw it, and the only people who did didn't tell him.) Now, the best part came when Snape went into the hall to go to Potions.  
  
You see, there is a poltergeist at Hogwarts. His name is Peeves, and he loves havoc and chaos more than anything. And when he saw the words on Snape's back, he went absolutely all out.  
  
Peeves did everything possible to harass Severus. He threw things at him, dropped things on him, made up uproarious rhymes about him (and chanted them ceaselessly), and did all sorts of other things. It was hysterical; Remus actually said that Peeves was almost a better annoyer than me and James. (James whacked him one for that, but then Remus reminded him that he had said ALMOST.)  
  
Snape was furious, which only made him look funnier, but he didn't know that we did it. (He was remarkably thick for someone who knew more advanced curses than our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.) So, we let him be (for the time being). The rest of our break passed uneventfully.  
  
When it was over back, and the Unicorns returned, life reverted to the way it was before they had left. We (meaning the girls and our group) had developed such an enmity that the teachers noticed and tried to get us to get along. It didn't work, of course. We went about our pranks as before.  
  
Actually, I must say, I think Remus was occasionally nice to them. Sometimes, we would catch him talking civilly to them. They appeared to be polite back, so we didn't go over and harass them. But we did harass Remus a bit. (Well, wouldn't you?)  
  
The end of the year approached quickly. All of a sudden, it was the end of the year, and we had to actually STUDY. There were end-of-year exams, of course, and our group actually didn't want to fail them. We took a bit of time off pranks especially for the occasion.  
  
Just a few days before the end-of-year feast, we decided to pull a grand finale trick on the Unicorns.  
  
"It has to be something memorable," said Remus, actually getting in the spirit of prank pulling.  
  
"Yeah, I mean, we wouldn't want them to forget us over the summer, now would we?" James said with a grin.  
  
"Especially that Lily," murmured Peter, thinking about how she had humiliated him in Charms, his worst subject and her best. (Okay, what happened was we were learning how to do Cheering Charms, and Peter hadn't quite gotten the hang of it while Lily had. She told him what to do, but told him to wave his wand "extra-hard" at himself for good measure. Peter, being on the rather stupid side of dumb, did this, of course. The result was a ridiculously hyper Peter grinning and laughing for the next 2 classes, all the while cursing Lily between laughs.)  
  
"So, what are we gonna do?" I asked. "I'm out of good ideas."  
  
"Me too…." James frowned.  
  
Remus was quiet for a moment. "Well, I'm not the one who told you this, but I heard that the Unicorns are planning on wearing matching hair ribbons to the feast. I dunno, but maybe you guys cant think of how to use that bit of info….." he trailed off.  
  
James thought hard for a moment, as did I. (Well, as hard as I could, because James's face when thinking is REALLY funny.)  
  
About ten seconds later, James yelled, "I got it!"  
  
"What?" we asked as one.  
  
"Well, don't you think frogs look absolutely great on lily pads?" James questioned with a wicked grin. We all exchanged glances, and soon, even Peter was wearing a smile similar to James's.  
  
"Frogs on their hair……they'll SO love it!" I said with typical prankster sarcasm.  
  
"Wait, we can't do just that. It's not really that much. I think we should change their pumpkin juice into swamp water, because won't the frogs need something to stay in once the girls throw them off their hair?" Peter suddenly voiced.  
  
James and I looked at each other.  
  
"Bloody brilliant, Pete!" I breathed.  
  
"Yeah, it's perfect! I can't believe you got such a great idea!" James added.  
  
"Now, to find a spell that can do that," Remus said, pulling out his Transfiguration book.  
  
James, being best a Transfiguration, studied the spells we had found until it was time to do them. Testing it for quite possibly the 38th time on my quill and ink, he leaned back and grinned.  
  
"Well, Siri, I can do it. Let's just hope it goes as well tomorrow," he sighed to me.  
  
"Don't worry James, you can do it. Now, just change it back please, because I really need to finish my History of Magic homework," I replied.  
  
The next day, we were hyper with nervousness. James had his wand at the ready, and we were sitting in the common room, waiting for the girls to go past us. (We wanted to do it from behind them.)  
  
After what seemed like an hour, they came down, each wearing the expected matching ribbon. We smiled (as innocently as possible) at them as they passed.  
  
"Well, what are you gonna do to us today?" said Rika cheerfully.  
  
"Probably turn us into bats," said Juniper with a sarcastic giggle.  
  
"Well, then we could fly better, and I could beat Josh at quidditch!" piped up Quinn enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, girls, we'd never do anything to you," said Remus, winningly polite.  
  
Lily glared at me and James. "Remus, I could believe you, but I don't trust those two," she said.  
  
"Hey, we are right here, you know," James objected. "We have feelings too."  
  
"Yeah, just because we aren't girls….."I started.  
  
"Doesn't mean that we can be stupid too," Peter finished.  
  
"NO," James said quickly, glaring at Peter who then shrunk away. "It doesn't mean that we can't be nice for a change."  
  
All four girls just looked at us.  
  
"Excuse me, do you think we've already forgotten Christmas?" said Rika.  
  
"And Halloween," added Juniper.  
  
"And your year-round jerkishness," put in Quinn.  
  
"Why would this be any different?" interrogated Lily. We looked at each other, then at Remus, who seemed to have a way with the girls more so than us.  
  
"Um, well….uh, since it's the end of the year, we, uh….think that it would, be, uh, good to, uh, be nice to you four?" he tried.  
  
They exchanged glances. I knew they didn't buy it.  
  
"You guys are so obviously up to something," started Lily.  
  
"And we know it for sure, so don't deny it," continued Juniper.  
  
"But we've got something of our own up our sleeve," resumed Quinn.  
  
"So bring it on," finished Rika with a grin almost as wicked as mine. I caught her eye and stuck out my tongue. She rolled her eyes, and said, "I just hope it's not as immature as you all are."  
  
"Hey! I resent that," I yelled at her.  
  
"Siri, she was being sarcastic," Remus pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, well, her sarcasm bites like a Cornish pixie," I retorted. The girls snorted with laughter at us (or at least me) and with that, they left the common room. After a minute, we got up and followed them.  
  
James, our Transfiguration expert, was to do the dirty work. He brought his wand and held it under his robes as we walked. Just as they were about to enter the Grand Hall, he whipped it out and muttered, "Chamelo Toadiliaos!" while pointing it at each girl's hair ribbon.  
  
Within seconds, each of the Unicorns had a fat, warty brown toad perched on her ponytail. (In truth, the toads actually reminded me of my brother Warren's best friend Vernon, only smaller and better looking.) It took a moment for the girls to realize what had happened. They kept on chatting until they sat down, whereupon Quinn felt a difference in the weight of what was on her head.  
  
"Hey, June, is my……." she started to say, but trailed off at the sight of Juniper's toad. "Oh………my……..god……."she said faintly.  
  
"What?" asked Juniper quizzically. At that moment, Lily and Rika turned to look at Juniper's hair too.  
  
Lily shrieked. "BLOODY HELL IT'S A FROG GET IT AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
She then attempted to jump out of her seat and make a run for it, but Rika held her back and screamed, "Lily, stop! You've got one in your hair too!!!!!!"  
  
After that, total chaos ensued. The girls, after realizing that they had TOADS in their hair (toads, Lils, not frogs), began shrieking and pawing like rabid cats at their hair. We were on the floor with laughter, as was at least ¼ of the other students. Everyone was laughing, save the Unicorns. While they were busy getting the toads out (which took a while because they were in such panic), James ran to the table and transfigured their pumpkin juice into swamp water.  
  
Once the toads were all out (and had unnoticeably hopped into the fresh swamp water), the girls, now a rather interesting shade of furious red, glared at us.  
  
"If we didn't have a little prank of our own all set, I would kill you right here and now," hissed Rika through clenched teeth. She glared at me with her bizarre black eyes, and I was once again reminded of her secret. But, once again, I didn't have too much time to think about it.  
  
Professor Dumbledore entered the Grand Hall and we scrambled for our seats. By this time, order had more or less been restored to the Hall, and we all sat up to listen. (We were located as far away from the Unicorns.) He gave a closing speech and announced the winner of the House Cup, who was, much to our disappointment, Slytherin. (I think our group's huge loss of points may have had something to do with the fact that we were in third place.)  
  
At any rate, we had a great time at the feast. The food was better than usual, if that was at all possible, and we talked about everything that had happened during the year. I gathered last looks of everyone, from a quiet Gryffindor girl (also in our year but not one of the Unicorns – she had her own group) named Joanne Rowling to a loud, rambunctious Slytherin seventh-year named Larsen Malfoy. (Incidentally, Larsen had a younger brother named Lucius who was a prefect in Arthur's year.) We were having such a good time that we didn't even notice that the girls had gone back to the common room before us. (Hey, we didn't even get to see their reaction to the swamp water!) But, at that time, we didn't really care.  
  
So, about an hour and a half later, we went back to the dorms, happy, full, and pleased with the outcome of our final (for the year) prank. Walking into our room, I let out a huge sigh. James, however, let out a huge burp.  
  
"Eeewwww…….that was gross, James," remarked Remus, wrinkling his nose.  
  
"Yeah, well, I ate a lot," James shrugged,  
  
"We noticed," muttered Peter.  
  
Sniffing the air, I commented, "Geez, James, WHAT did you eat? It smells like perfume in here!"  
  
"Gross perfume, too," added Peter.  
  
"Hey, that's not me! I swear!" James said innocently (this time, it was sincere innocence).  
  
"Ooooohhhhh, this must be that prank that the girls were talking about," groaned Remus.  
  
"I don't know…..it's kinda stupid, even for the girls," said Peter slowly.  
  
"It's more than stupid, it's pathetic…but what do you expect? The Unicorns aren't exactly first-class pranksters, like us," James said.  
  
I frowned. "You know, Rika seemed pretty pissed at us for the toads. I don't think they'd let that go this easily."  
  
"Well, nothing else is happening," Peter said after a moment.  
  
"Let's just get on with our business, and…..**yawn**…….worry when something happens," James said, sounding tired. Actually, now that I thought about it, I was tired too.  
  
I looked at Remus and Peter, and they yawned too. "Guys, let's go to bed," Peter said after a huge yawn.  
  
"But it's still early……oh well, I guess I'm tired too," James said. So, changing into our pajamas, we got into bed and slept.  
  
I don't know how long we slept, but it was noon when we awoke. The smell of rotten perfume was gone, and the day seemed perfect. We didn't have classes, because we were leaving later that afternoon, so I just lay there for a minute, thinking about my year.  
  
After a while, I heard the other guys waking up. I sat up and looked over at James. This time, it was my jaw that dropped in horror. He was busy rubbing his eyes, so at first he didn't notice.  
  
"Siri, what are you gaping at?" he said when he first looked at me. Then, he said slowly, "Those girls…..it's bloody brilliant….."  
  
"What are you talking about? LOOK AT YOURSELF!" I started to yell, shock gaining control over me.  
  
"What, me? Look at YOU!!" he replied, laughing. I heard Peter and Remus laugh too, and looked over at them.  
  
After about half an hour of pure pandemonium, the four of us realized that we were all covered in heavy layers of witch make-up. And, to add to this new knowledge, we knew (coming from wizarding families) that witch make-up doesn't come off unless you use a spell on it. Another great thing we found out was that absolutely none of us knew that spell.  
  
"James, you should know it, doesn't your mum use make-up?" I asked pleadingly.  
  
"Well yeah, but I never listen to her when she takes it off! I mean, your mum does too, Sirius, so do YOU know the spell?" James retorted in frustration.  
  
"URGH, I cannot BELIEVE they did this to ME!" yelled Remus from the other side of the room. Actually, they had been rather nice to him (compared to us). He only had a light layer of blue eyeshadow, gold mascara, and plain red lipstick. (In case you're wondering, which you must be, Peter had on vivid orange eyeshadow, bright pink blush, thick black mascara, and neon purple lipstick. James was wearing dark red blush, silver mascara, lime green eyeshadow, and deep blue lipstick. I was decorated with shiny magenta eyeshadow, mocha-brown blush, turquoise mascara, and white lipstick. All 3 of us were covered in a generous layer of body glitter.)  
  
We spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do. None of us had any books that could help, and none of us would dare to venture out and ask a girl for help.  
  
Finally, James twitched. I knew that twitch; it was what James Potter did when he knew what to do but didn't know if he should do it.  
  
"James, spill," I said in a no-nonsense voice that I would normally never use. (Okay, it REALLY wasn't like me, but this was an extreme situation!)  
  
At this, he looked at me a bit nervously and said, "I, uh, think I have something that can help us." Remus and Peter instantly appeared at our side.  
  
"Well, James, my best friend! TELL ALL," said Remus.  
  
"And quickly! I can't stand this……stuff…..for too much longer!" Peter said, sounding as if he very much would have liked to call it something else, but was too scared to use the word.  
  
"Well, I have….an…..invisibility cloak," said James haltingly. We gasped.  
  
"And you never told me!" I said in shock.  
  
"Well, I only got it at Christmas, and I really haven't used it yet, so I didn't really think it was that big of a deal, and-" James said hastily, but was cut off by Remus.  
  
"Never mind all that! One of us, I'm assuming you James, because it's your cloak, must wear the cloak and sneak into the girl's dorm and steal a book on make-up, or whatever will have the spell in it. Then, you must come back here so we can, er, get clean," he declared.  
  
And that's just what we did. Actually, Peter did it for us, because James was didn't want to go into ~THE GIRL'S DORM~, and he got a book for us. We found the spell, used it, and spent our remaining time finishing packing. It was almost time to go.  
  
We go onto the train sighing. We were leaving; it was real. I couldn't believe I was going…..home. Now that I considered it, Hogwarts had become my home. I knew I would miss it.  
  
Choosing a compartment as far from the Unicorns as possible (for we were now quite wary of them), we settled down and prepared for the places we had left behind.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Yeah, I know, wimpy ending AGAIN, but sorry! I can't think of anything else. Ok, you read it, now review it please!!!!! If enough people like it, I'll write the next chapter ASAP!!!! Also, if you want, you can email me at unicorn726@admin.balita.org but make sure that you make the subject "fanfic" (or at least include that in it). Thanks!!!!  
  
  
  
~Tora Q. 


	4. Train Rides, Summer Fun, New Alliances

Simply Sirius  
  
Chapter 4  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything here, because all of these characters belong to the people who created them!!!! All of this material is not mine, and I do not own it. (Well, except for the characters I created. I do own those.) Thank you!  
  
A/N: For those of you who were whining about how long it took to get this up (ahem**coughcough**MOLLY, KATIE!**coughcough**) this chapter is longest yet!  
  
Peter and I were playing chess and James and Remus were playing Exploding Snap when Severus Snape and his cronies walked in.  
  
There were 4 of them: Slimy Snape himself, Nico Malfoy (Lucius and Larson's younger brother- he was sort of the family reject, being ugly, dim-witted, and altogether non-Malfoyish in every sense except for prejudice and idiocy), Joseph Crabbe, and Ben Goyle. (Crabbe and Goyle were almost exactly the same thing: big, boulder-like people with giant muscles and no brain.)  
  
"Well, well, well, look who it is. The Potter gang," sneered Snape. At this, I thought, `Potter gang? James is our leader? Okay with me, just someone should have told me earlier!'  
  
Remus looked up and sighed. "Severus, please leave us alone. We don't want to fight."  
  
"Oh yeah? Well we do," Malfoy said, coming up to Remus. Crabbe and Goyle followed.  
  
"Um, guys, sorry for breaking your mood, but you might want to back up from Remus right about now," James said quietly.  
  
"Why?" asked Crabbe stupidly.  
  
"Yeah, why? You can't make us do anything. You're not our Mom," added Goyle, just as stupidly (if not more).  
  
Their question was answered in a moment. Remus, who had been shuffling the deck of cards, suddenly threw them at Nico, Joseph, and Ben (Severus had been smart enough to stay away), whereupon they exploded loudly.  
  
Seconds of moaning and coughing ensued, and our cabin was filled with smoke. Peter, James, Remus, and I tried to smother our laughs as best as we could.  
  
The smoke cleared, and when we looked up, the band of idiots was gone.  
  
"Hmmm......wonder what happened to them," said Peter thoughtfully.  
  
"I can answer that," said a sly voice from the door. We looked at each other, and the Unicorns walked in. Peter groaned.  
  
"Geez, what in bloody hell are you doing here? We wanted to get away from you!" James moaned.  
  
"Well, we heard an explosion, and came to investigate. Seeing the gang of Slytherin Supreme Jerks, we thought they deserved torture more than you, and used a simple transport spell," Juniper informed us with a grin.  
  
"Now, what you SHOULD be saying, is `Thank you girls, you're the best people in the world, and we owe a lot to you. How ever can we repay you?'" Quinn added, half sarcastically.  
  
We gave them all looks. "Um, thanks?" I tried, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Lily rolled her eyes. "I should have expected that."  
  
"Well, we should be going anyways. We're almost at King's Cross, so we gotta clean up our compartment," said Rika shrugging. And with that, they left, leaving us surprised and slightly stunned.  
  
"Well. That was odd," I commented after a moment. Remus checked his watch.  
  
"They're right, though. We're almost there, so we better clean up," he told us. So, grumbling and complaining, we did so, making sure to pack away our secret prank plans. (Oops, just forget about those! No one is supposed to know, hence the name SECRET plans.)  
  
I got off the train thinking only of how long it would be until I got back to Hogwarts. It wasn't that I didn't like being at home; I just knew I would miss my friends, the permission to do magic, and our prank targets. Plus, I would have to see Warren the Wicked, and that was never a good thing at all.  
  
Shaking my head at these thoughts, I yelled good-byes to James, Remus, and Peter, saying that I would send them all owls and try to have them come over. Then, I walked over to where I was to meet my family. They were already there, Warren included. My mum and dad were waving, smiling, and screaming, "SIRIUS! Oh, he`s home! Sirius, over here!" Warren was doing none of this. Rather, he was frowning, glaring at me, and looking altogether grouchy.  
  
I pushed my trolley over to them. "Hi Mum, hi Dad, hi Warren! It's great to see you all!" I said, forcing a smile.  
  
Mum rushed up and wrapped me in a huge hug, momentarily choking me. "Oh, my baby is home, finally home!" she said happily.  
  
Dad came over and patted me on the back. "Warren, take your brother's trolley. He's had a long trip," he said to Warren, who then shot me a look of pure poison. "So, Sirius, how was it? Did you have fun?"  
  
"Yes," I said after a moment. "It was great." That was all I could manage. There really wasn't any other way to describe it. Then, all of a sudden, I felt glad to be home, glad to be with my family, glad for a break. I gave my parents (and Warren, I suppose) a genuine smile.  
  
I began explaining everything on our way to the car. By the time we were home, I still hadn't finished. (And I had even left out most of our pranks!)  
  
Slowly, I re-adjusted to life at home. Everything was back to how it had been before I left, with the exception that I was constantly writing to my friends, and Warren and I were avoiding each other more than before.  
  
One day, I got a rather exciting owl from Remus. It was about a summer get-together for the Perfectly Ridiculous Super Jokers (a.k.a. us). I was thrilled; actually, I had been meaning to plan something of the sort, but Warren had stopped me. (His threats of having him and Vernon Dursley try and set me up with Vernon's sister, Marge, were too appalling for even me to ignore.)  
  
So, after several owls about arrangements, it was settled; I would travel by Floo Powder to Remus's house, as would James and Peter. I was thrilled at the idea of seeing my friends again. I had already started to miss them all, even Peter! So, the day before we were to meet, I packed as hurriedly as I could.  
  
"Sirius, dear, packing quickly won't speed up the day," Mum said to me patiently.  
  
"I know, Mum," I replied, not exactly paying attention.  
  
"Oh, Sirius! Now, slow down, and be more careful. Look, you're staying the weekend, and you only packed one pair of socks!" she sighed, looking through my bag.  
  
"Mum!" I groaned. The next 24 hours would sure be long.  
  
At any rate, I rushed off to Remus's house as soon as I could. I loved my family, and HAD missed them, but they got to be a bit much at times. With a dash of Floo Powder and the words, "Remus's House!" I got there in no time at all.  
  
I fell back into a puff of ashes, and a hand reached into the fireplace to help me out. "Hey Siri, what's up?" James said amiably. I brushed myself off.  
  
"Not too much, other than the fact that I really hate travel by Floo Powder. How are you two?" I replied, meaning him and Remus. Peter wasn't there yet.  
  
"Great!" Remus replied happily. He was looking better than usual in the sense that he looked happier and less tired than he usually did. I grinned.  
  
"This is gonna be a great weekend," I said.  
  
And it was. We had a lot of fun doing all the things we had done at Hogwarts (minus the magic, of course). This included planning pranks (of course), thinking of lovely insults for Snape, and designing what spells would be useful if we could make them. Actually, Remus came up with a brilliant idea. It was that next year, we would explore the castle as thoroughly as possible, and find every secret passage, shortcut, hideaway, etc. and make a map of them all. This map would have a spell on it so that to the normal viewer, it would seem like an ordinary piece of paper. But, to those who new the passwords, it would reveal everything. We all really wanted to do it, and decided that it was a good thing to put on our to-do list.  
  
Another thing we did was talk about the girls. (A/N: Ooooooooooh, gossip, scandalous! Hehe, lol.)  
  
"Hey, guys, what are we gonna do to the girls as a welcome back this year?" I asked.  
  
"Hhmmmm......good question, Siri, what are we gonna do?" James replied.  
  
"Wait, why are we even pulling anything on them at all? I mean, if you guys give them a chance, they really aren't all that bad," Remus objected.  
  
"I agree with Remus. Well, not that they're not bad, but that we shouldn't do anything. They could get us wicked! Don't you remember the make-up? And the thing with our clothes? And the pumpkins?" Peter added.  
  
"And the Cheering Charm," I said with a smirk.  
  
"Oh, shut up," Peter muttered.  
  
"Guys, are we or are we not enemies with these so-called Unicorns?" James said loudly.  
  
"Well-"  
  
"Hush, Remus, you don't count."  
  
"Um, we're enemies, I guess."  
  
"Correct enough, Peter. Sirius?"  
  
"Enemies, all the way!"  
  
"Correct. Now. What shall we do to greet these enemies when we see them in September?" James questioned regally.  
  
"You know, as much as I think you three would have loads of fun, why don't we plan our prank for our great pal Snape and his highly intelligent friends instead? I think his reaction would be much more worth it, and besides, it's easier to have a Slytherin for an enemy," Remus said.  
  
"Hmmm......not a bad idea, Remus. I suppose we could work on a little something for dear Snapey first, and work on the girls' prank if we have any time left," James said thoughtfully.  
  
"I think that's good. After all, Snape is an all out jerk. The Unicorns are just annoying," I piped up.  
  
"I agree completely," said Peter.  
  
"So, now the question is, what to do to Snape?" Remus announced.  
  
"Something evil," I answered with a wicked grin. James rolled his eyes.  
  
"Well, obviously! Come on now, we have to really think of something good," he said.  
  
"Er....how `bout we throw several Fanged Frisbees at him?" Peter suggested.  
  
"Nah, too simple," I responded. "Maybe we could......get him to eat poisoned candy?"  
  
"Er, no Siri, I think that might kill him.....not that I'm complaining, but we could get into a spot of trouble for it," Remus answered.  
  
"Wait, he may have something there," James said thoughtfully.  
  
"James, no, as much fun as it would be, we can't poison Snape and the idiots!" Remus said firmly.  
  
"No, no, no, not poison them, just enchant them a bit. You know, like put something in their food that'll make them do something stupid and embarrassing. That's okay, isn't it?" James asked.  
  
"It's more than okay.....it's GREAT!" I said.  
  
"Yeah, actually, it sounds reasonable to me," Remus admitted.  
  
"I like it too," Peter added.  
  
"Good. So it's settled then? We do something to Snape's food," James said.  
  
"The food on the train. We'll enchant it so that he eats it right away and does something at the beginning of year feast," I put in.  
"Definitely! But who'll do it?" Peter said.  
  
"Well, we should take turns being host for pranks. Who wants to do this one?" I said.  
  
"Me!" James yelled with a wicked grin. I smiled, my face just as innocent (or not) as his. With James Potter in charge of it, this would be good.  
  
"Well, now that we've gotten that all planned out, what about the girls?" Peter said, returning to our previous subject.  
  
"Yeah, what are we gonna do to them?" James asked, looking at me.  
  
"You know, before we get into that, what do you guys think about Rika? Is it just me, or is she not human?" I pointed out.  
  
"OH YEAH! Bloody hell, Siri, I almost forgot about that! Guys, what do you think she is? I mean, if she's not a human, what can she be?" James said quickly.  
  
"I dunno....a veela? But, does it really matter? I mean, come on, so she's not a human......"Remus started, but trailed off when he saw the look on our faces. "What?"  
  
"Remus, How can you be so.....blasé about it?" Peter questioned.  
  
"Well........because.....I mean....well, why not?" Remus said uncertainly.  
  
"Remus. We're talking about another creature here! Don't you think there's something wrong with that?" James asked incredulously. I frowned, thinking about it myself. How on earth could this not be a big deal to him? Then, something clicked.....  
  
"Hey, Remus? Just wondering, but why are you always `sick' during a full moon?" I interrogated softly.  
  
He opened his mouth in reply, but no sound came out for a moment. Then, he blushed, and said, "I...er, um...well, y'see......I.....okay, um......okay, well, y'see, I'm really a girl, and that's when I get PMS!" This was all spoken very quickly, and Remus wore a very embarrassed look.  
  
"REALLY?" queried Peter in astonishment.  
  
"No, Pete, he's covering up for the truth. Which is.........Remus?" James said, catching on to my thoughts.  
  
Remus swallowed and sighed. "Well, guys, I think you already know, or at least have a general idea. I really don't wanna tell you, because I know you'll hate me for it, but I guess you have the right to know. Okay, here goes.......wait, are you SURE you want to know? I mean, can't we just not talk about it?" he said pleadingly.  
  
"Come on, Remus. It's okay, we won't kill you or anything. Just tell us. We're you're friends first and forever, so don't worry `bout it," I said reassuringly.  
  
"Thanks, Siri," he replied with a smile. "Okay, well then....I'm a werewolf."  
  
Peter gave a rather strangled squeak or fright, then looked at James and I. I tried to hide a grin. (I KNEW that's what he was, I did!)  
  
"Well, okay then. But why should we hate you for it?" James said.  
  
"Because.....because.....well, don't you hate giants? They're identified by kind, not individual personality, and well, werewolves don't exactly have the greatest rep. But, oh, you really aren't mad or anything?" Remus said, looking a bit flustered.  
  
"Nope. Not at all. Hey, that gives me an idea! We can call you Moony! It's the perfect nickname. What do ya think?" grinned James.  
  
"It's.....I really like it!" Remus said, seemingly stunned with happiness.  
  
"Well, now we can see why Rika's not being human isn't a major concern to you," Peter said, shrugging.  
  
"Yeah, that's why. But at any rate, what do you guys think she is, if not a human?" Remus - well, Moony responded.  
  
"I dunno. An elf, maybe?" Peter suggested.  
  
"Nah, she doesn't have pointy ears. Maybe a fairy - oh no wait, no wings," James said indecisively.  
  
"Um......could she be a mermaid, but y'know, under an enchantment so she looks like a human?" I inquired.  
  
"No, no, definitely not! Most mermaids around here have seaweed-like hair and yellowish eyes and skin that can't be enchanted to look different, and besides, Rika isn't afraid of sea water," Moony pointed out.  
  
"Why would that matter?" said Peter.  
  
"Oh, I know. It's because when mermaids are in human form, they can't get touched by sea water, otherwise they'll change back, which isn't what they want," James explained.  
  
"Ooohhhh, right. But then, if she's not any of these things, what IS she?" I answered, getting stumped. This was actually something that I couldn't figure out, or even find a clue to!  
  
"No idea. None, whatsoever here," Moony shook his head. "Hey, guys, do you mind if I give you nicknames, too?"  
  
"Go ahead," James shrugged.  
  
"K, James, I'll call you Prongs, because you act so....gallant, and respectful, just like a stag. And Sirius, you're definitely Padfoot, because I mean, you're so loyal, and friendly, like a dog. No offense," he added the last line quickly.  
  
"What about me?" Peter said, looking a bit put out.  
  
"Erm...well, I think for now you can just be Pete, because you have so many great traits, it's hard to choose just one or two to describe you," Moony said, thinking quickly. Truth was, Peter really didn't have all that many outstanding qualities. At the moment, we didn't have a special name for him.  
  
At any rate, our weekend was successfully wonderful. By the time I had to leave, we had planned everything necessary for the school year, including our little greeting for the Unicorns. It was this:  
  
We would bring stuffed animals of every kind onto the train with us (supplied, of course, from James's little sister). There they would be enchanted to, in a way, come "alive" and scare the girls.  
  
In a way, it was a rather immature plan, but we were kind of brain-dead, as far as prank-plotting went. Besides, we had to compromise with Moony and Pete; they had wanted to do nothing at all, but James - er, Prongs - and I insisted on something. So, this little joke was the best we could come up with.  
  
The rest of the summer flew by without too much event. I relaxed, did some quidditch practice with my dad, did my homework when Mum yelled, and steered clear of Warren and his pals at all costs. In my spare time, which was most of the day, I tried to plan pranks for the new school year and wrote to my friends. One day, after having sent 3 owls to each of my friends (plus a Joke Howler to Prongs and Warren), I considered sending prank owls to each of the Unicorns. But, then I realized that Lily's and Quinn's parents were muggles, and would most likely flip out if an owl came swooping into their home. Plus, I was out of paper.  
  
All too soon, the end of the summer came. Before I knew it, Mum and Dad were taking me to Diagon Alley to pick up school supplies. I had wanted to meet James, Remus, and Peter, but Mum said no because stupid Warren had to come.  
  
At any rate, the 1^st of September was suddenly there, and it was time to go back to Hogwarts. I was thrilled. I had begun to miss my second home.  
  
Bright and early that morning, Mum and Dad took me to King's Cross Station. (Warren didn't come; he and Vernon had "plans", which involved "much more important things to do".)  
  
This year, the four of us (meaning Moony, Pete, Prongs, and I) had planned to meet just outside the Hogwarts Express at 10:30. This year, I would NOT be late! Actually, I was there early. My parents and I arrived at 10:15, making me the first one of our group there. Because of this, my parents insisted on waiting with me until they came. This was not a good thing. Every time someone would walk by, they would whisper loud comments to me.  
  
"What an awful person," Mum murmered as Nico Malfoy walked by with his family, whining loudly.  
  
"Merlin's beard, what ditzes!" Dad muttered after a crowd of sixth year Slytherin girls strutted by, giggling and gossiping.  
  
"She could do with a Cheering Charm," Mum chuckled upon catching sight of Minerva McGonagall.  
  
"Well, they look like respectable girls," Dad remarked as the Unicorns walked by. "Do you know them, Siri?"  
  
They heard my name, and looked over. Quinn smiled and waved, as did Juniper. Rika smiled, but very quietly, and Lily sort of scowled. "Well, sort of," I shrugged, not wishing to elaborate. I smiled and waved back at the two who had actually been friendly to me.  
  
Several minutes later, Remus arrived. We introduced our parents to each other's, and started chatting. Soon, Peter came, then James. (Hah, this time it was HIM late, not me!!!!!)  
  
By this time, the train seemed to be getting full, so we said our goodbyes and rushed on, in search of an empty compartment. Fortunately for us, there was one, but it was located sort of close to the Unicorns.  
  
As soon as the Hogwarts Express pulled out, and our parents were no longer in sight, and it seemed like the coast was clear, I said, "Hey Prongs, you ready to prepare the special treat for Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle?"  
  
"Yup. Been planning on it for the past few weeks. Plus, Aeryn actually let me borrow her stuffed animals for our trick for the Unicorns," he replied. James shook his head, but he was smiling. "That girl, I think I'm rubbing off on her. She said she wanted to help us pull pranks when she got into Hogwarts. She's got the makings of a perfect little troublemaker." As he said this, James tried to look passive, but I could see the hint of pride in his eyes.  
  
"Well, what have you got for Snape's Crew?" Moony asked, attempting to keep the excitement out of his voice. It didn't work.  
  
"Um, y'see, my mum has this sort of singing potion that she always threatens me with, and, well, I thought we could use it on them," said Prongs simply.  
  
"What does it do?" said Peter.  
  
"Upon being ingested, it coerces its host to instantaneously vocalize," Remus declared with an air of expertise and boredom.  
  
"And in English, that means....?" I questioned. Pete had a look of stupefied shock on his face.  
  
"Whoever drinks it, or in this case, eats something that is covered in it, is forced to start singing something. I'm not really sure what song, but I guess we'll just have to find out, now won't we?" James answered cheerfully.  
  
"Oh. Well, why couldn't Moony say that?" Peter interrogated, looking somewhere between confused, frustrated, and embarrassed at his lack of understanding.  
  
"I DID!" Remus half-shouted.  
  
"No you didn't," Pete contradicted.  
  
"Yes I did! Just because you can't understand what I'm saying doesn't mean I'm not saying it!" Remus yelled back.  
  
"I think what you're saying is right, but you know Moony, even I didn't really totally get what you said just now," James said, hiding a smile.  
  
"Well, at any rate! Let's get back on track here! We need to get working!" I shouted above Remus's protests.  
  
"Oh my god, Padfoot, you're actually being serious for once!" Prongs said in mock horror.  
  
"What are you talkin' about? I'm always Sirius, it's my name!" I replied with a grin.  
  
"Ha ha, very funny," Moony rolled his eyes.  
  
"What is? I don't get it," Pete interjected, looking confused again.  
  
"Never mind. But anyways, we should concentrate. I have the potion already, but I haven't tested it of course, Do you think we should?" James said.  
  
"Sure!" I said, looking straight at Remus. It took a moment for him to realize this.  
  
"What? No way, not me! I can't sing!" he hollered, getting prepared to run away.  
  
"And just why not?" Peter said, siding with James and I.  
  
"Werewolf thing. We can't sing, at all. Singing, er, makes us, uh, transform quicker! So why don't we test it on you?" Remus countered quickly, ad-libbing the part about werewolves.  
  
"Why don't we just test it on the Slytherin losers and see what happens, okay?" Peter said, looking a bit nervous.  
  
"Good idea. In the meanwhile, we can-" I began, but was interrupted by a sort of shout from a few compartments away. The four of us exchanged glances, and raced out the door.  
  
I was the first to the spot. And, of course, who should be there but Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle bothering the Unicorns? It was a slightly odd situation. The girls didn't seem to be in any immediate trouble, more like they were simply being annoyed to death by the Slytherins. Lily had to have been the source of the shout. She was scowling, and her face was a furious red. If looks could kill, Severus Snape would have very painfully died in an instant. Rika was standing next to her, with an identical expression. Her pale face was tinged pink, and her hands were fists. Juniper and Quinn also stood nearby. They, however, weren't focused on the Slytherins. Rather, they were trying to reach their wands from where they stood, which was a few feet away.  
  
"I told you, GET OUT!" Lily screamed in Snape's face.  
  
"Oooh, temper, temper," Snape replied coolly. "We're not ready to go yet, are we boys?" he said, turning to the other losers. (He would have seen our gang, but we had decided to hide around the corner and listen for the moment; if anything bad seemed to be happening to the girls, we would play hero and come to the rescue.)  
  
"No, we're not ready yet!" Malfoy answered Snape idiotically.  
  
"Tough luck, too bad, so sad, GET OUT ANYWAYS!" Rika shrieked at them.  
  
"But what if we-" Goyle started, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence, and fell to the floor, his large body abnormally straight. Crabbe followed suit.  
  
Before he did, though, we heard Quinn whisper, "Petrificus Totalus!" I peeked around the corner and saw that she and Juniper had gotten their wands.  
  
"You little-" Malfoy began, stepping forward.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" I shouted, leaping forward before he could reach either girl.  
  
"What the - BLACK!" Snape whirled around and caught sight of me.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" James was suddenly next to me, saying the same curse that Quinn, Juniper, and I had said.  
  
Several moments of heavy silence followed as Remus and Peter joined us in the compartment, and we all surveyed the Slytherins, who were now out of action, as they all had the Full-Body Bind on them.  
  
"Well, thanks guys," Quinn broke the silence, smiling at us.  
  
"No problem. Anytime," I shrugged, grinning back.  
  
"Yeah, it was rather fun, anyways," James added.  
  
"What did they want, anyways?" asked Peter. The girls exchanged glances. For a few silent moments, they held a private conversation with their eyes. Finally, Juniper turned to us.  
  
"It really wasn't that big of a deal. Snape just wanted some...information, and we didn't want to, or rather couldn't, give it to him. But he, being that first-class jerk that he is, decided to bother us some more. It was lucky that me and Quinn had been practicing the full-body bind last year," she said.  
  
"Dare I ask what kind of information he wanted?" James said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Er...well...it's not really important," Rika said quickly.  
  
"Yes it is. Spill, we saved you after all," I said.  
  
"Yeah, even though you owed us from last year. Anyways, Severus wanted to know what the deal with Remus is. I mean, I guess we do too, but we're not nosy like him, so we won't ask unless Remus is willing to tell," Lily shrugged.  
  
"What do you mean, the deal with me?" Remus said uneasily.  
  
"Oh come on, Remus. You can't pretend anymore. The four of us, and Snape, at the very least have noticed that you disappear monthly without fail. And, I dunno if Snape noticed, but it's always on the full moon," Juniper rolled her eyes.  
  
"Um...." Remus began, not really knowing what to say.  
  
"Well, what it is, is Remus is really a girl, and his disappearances are THAT time of the month, and it's easiest for him to deal with it by hiding...elsewhere," I said cheerfully, repeating the first excuse that came to mind. Actually, it was the first excuse Remus had given us this summer, just before the truth came out.  
  
"Ha ha, very funny, as if we're stupid enough to believe that!" Lily said cynically.  
  
"Well, you ARE stupid..." James started, trailing off at the frozen glare Lily had sent his way.  
  
"No, seriously guys, tell us! It's okay, we won't blab to the rest of the school. Believe it or not, Remus is our pal, and we won't give away his secret. Just tell us. We won't care, no matter what," Rika said.  
  
"Yeah. Besides, even if you don't tell, I bet we can find out on our own," Quinn added. We just looked at Remus, who sighed.  
  
"You're all right. Girls, you are my friends, (James and Sirius, stop sniggering before I curse you), and you deserve to know too. I mean, yes, even if I didn't tell you, you could probably figure it out, but I will. But.....you just will definitely not like me after this. Do I HAVE to tell you? I really want to keep you as friends, and-" he started, but was cut off by Rika.  
  
"Look Remus, no matter what, we won't care. We know you, and nothing can stop us from being friends with the friendly guy we know. And, in case this helps, I know that since you all know I'm not exactly human, I'll..." Rika paused here, and took a deep breath. "I'll tell you what I am."  
  
"Go for it, Moony," James, Peter, and I said instantly.  
  
After a moment of uneasy laughter, Remus conceded. "Well, I don't know if you'll still believe your words, but...I'm a...I'm a werewolf," he said, blushing and looking away.  
  
"Oh. Is that it? What's wrong with that?" Quinn said.  
  
"You - you mean, you really don't care?" Remus asked, surprised again at the lack of hatred.  
  
"Well, you guys didn't care, did you? So why should we?" Lily replied.  
  
"Oh. Well, that's.....that's great!" Moony said, a lot more cheerful.  
  
"So, now your nickname is Moony?" Rika questioned. He nodded. "That's neat. And, I s'pose I gotta keep up my end of the deal. Okay, well, um...actually, I'm half human. Y'see, my dad was a wizard, but my mum was...my mum was a golden-eyed unicorn, and so..." she left off, not knowing what else to say.  
  
"You're half unicorn?" asked Pete incredulously.  
  
"Er, uh, yes?"  
  
"Wait a sec, just out of curiosity, what's a golden-eyed unicorn, specifically?" Prongs interrogated, voicing the question in my own mind.  
  
"Well, you know how some seals can turn into humans? That's how it is for unicorns, too. Most of them, the ordinary kind, have blue, or gray eyes. However, there are some with gold eyes and horns that can change into humans at will. My mum was one, and when she met my dad, and fell in love with him, she decided to stay with him, as a human. Now, there's me," Rika said shyly. We were all quiet for a moment.  
  
All of a sudden, Remus burst out, "YAY!"  
  
"Um, Moony, what was that for?" Lily asked.  
  
"I finally met someone else who isn't a human! Well, not entirely, at least," he nearly shouted, looking happier and better than I had ever seen him.  
  
"Hey, I'm thrilled too," Rika said, grinning.  
  
Juniper checked her watch. "Hey, I really hate to break up this party, especially since we're actually getting along, but we'll be at Hogwarts in an hour, just in case anybody wants to know," she pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, we should all be getting changed," Quinn said, looking at her own watch.  
  
"Oh. Okay then, bye," Peter said.  
  
"We'll drag out the Slytherin idiots on our way out," James added.  
  
"Bye guys," said Quinn.  
  
"See ya at the feast," Lily said. At that, I thought, whoa, little miss frozen fire is being nice to us! What is wrong here?  
  
"Bye," we chorused on our way out the door.  
  
Once back in our compartment, we changed quickly, then made the plans for enchanting the food for Snape and his cronies. Since it was too late to give him the food now, we decided to somehow pour the potion over his plate at the feast. After this was all laid out, we simultaneously looked at the bag of stuffed animals next to Prongs's trunks.  
  
"Should we?" he asked.  
  
"Well...now, I'm not so sure. I don't think we should anymore. I mean, we're sort of...friends now, I guess," I said, uncertain myself.  
  
"Let's not. I think this year, the Unicorns and our gang should form an alliance against Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle," Remus announced.  
  
"That sounds good to me," Peter said.  
  
"Me too. Padfoot?" James said, looking at me.  
  
"Definitely. But we should have a name for our group too! The girls get one, why not us, too?" I replied. The others thought about this for a moment.  
  
"How `bout the Marauders?" Remus suggested slowly.  
  
"What does that mean?" said Pete, looking confused again.  
  
"Um...actually, something like raider, or prowler, but I think it means trickster too," Remus said, not sure himself.  
  
"Perfect for us. It's all set then!" James confirmed after a glance of agreement from me and Pete.  
  
Thus began our alliance with the Unicorns, our enmity with Snape's gang, and our second year, a year of exploring, pranks, and all around fun trouble.  
  
It was one of many years we would never forget.  
  
**Whew** That was long, wasn't it? Hope it was worth the wait....I certainly had fun writing it! And, yea, Peter's nickname WILL come up, but much later....it's a long story, which you will read as soon as I can write and post it! But, since you've read this part,  
  
review it please!!!!!!!!! I can't improve it if I don't know you're comments, and positive feedback means more time spent on it!!!!!! Also, if you want, you can email me at [1]unicorn726@admin.balita.org but make sure that you make the subject "fanfic" (or at least include that in it). Thanks!!!!  
  
~Tora Q.  
  
References  
  
1. mailto:unicorn726@admin.balita.org 


	5. First Term Fun

Simply Sirius

Chapter 5

_            DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything here, as we all know, because all of these characters belong to the people who created them!!!! All of this material is not mine, and I do not own it. (Well, except for the characters I created. I do own those.) Thank you!_

_*Again, as you know by now, this is from Sirius Black's POV._

            Since we were now allies with the Unicorns, (hey, now I know why they called themselves that!) we decided to let them in on our little prank. They, surprisingly, loved it. In fact, Lily, who was top-hole at Charms, would be the one to levitate the potion and pour a generous amount of it onto our Slytherin friends' food. 

            "Wingardium leviosa," she whispered, flicking her wand at the potion vial. Slowly, carefully, she guided it with her wand towards the Slytherin table. Fortunately, Quinn had thought to put an invisibility spell on it first. If she hadn't we probably would have been caught.

            Anyway, since Lily Evans was doing the spell, it ended up taking a few more minutes than it would have if we had done it. Her excuse was that she was being "careful". Uh-huh, sure, Lils.

            "So, when did you guys think of this?" she whispered to James to distract him from his whining at how slowly she was working.

            "Oh, we had a summer reunion at Remus's and planned a bunch of stuff," he answered.

            "No pranks for us, I hope?" Rika asked, her eyes narrowing.

            "Well, _I _didn't want to, and neither did Pete, but _James_, and _Sirius-_" Remus began, but was interrupted by yours truly.

            "Me and James weren't there when they were debating that, but when we came, and they asked us, we said no, definitely not," I interjected smoothly. Hey, so they wouldn't buy it, but it was better than nothing on a last minute call!

            "Yeah, suuure, Sirius. Like we would believe that YOU of all people wouldn't want to pull pranks on us," Juniper replied, rolling her eyes at me. "So all you did was plan tricks? Geez, don't you have lives?"

            "What's the point? It's _fun_ not having a life...You get to laugh at the people who do," Peter said suddenly, shrugging. The rest of us looked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

            "_That_ was a good one, Pete," James admitted between laughs.

            "Can you keep it down, now? It's almost there," Lily said. I looked over, but realized that it was pointless, as Lily was charmed to be the only one who could see it. At any rate, it must have only taken a few moments, because suddenly, Lily was holding a nearly empty bottle.

            "Kereoke, anyone?" she asked, waving it with a grin.

            "What's that?" James questioned.

            "Oh yeah…..muggle thing," she replied.

            "It's where only the music part of a song plays, and you sing instead of the real singer," Quinn explained.

            "That sounds like fun! Could we do that here?" I exclaimed.

            "Haven't you read _Hogwarts, A History_? Well, apparently not. Because if you did, you'd know that you can't use any sort of electronic things here," Juniper commented.

            "Um…what's 'alectronec'?" I said uncertainly. 

            "_Electronic_…the energy force that makes a lot of muggle machinery work," Lily described.

            "Oh. So no kereoke?" I frowned, feigning extreme disappointment.

            "Nah, but if we get together during the summer, I have a kereoke machine, so we could do it then, if you REALLY want," Quinn said.

            "Sounds fun," Remus said glaring at James and I when we simply looked at each other.

            "So…well, when will the potion kick in?" Peter asked, clearing up the silence. We all looked expectantly at James for the answer to this.

            "Hey, why should I know?" he exclaimed, holding up his hands defensively.

            "You're the one who got the idea and the potion, genius," I reminded him, rolling my eyes.

            "And your point is….?" James responded. 

            "Okay, quit it with the dumb arguments. Let's just enjoy ourselves in the meantime, because otherwise we might be suspected," Rika said loudly. I glared at her when she looked away, but she was right, so I did as she suggested. 

            So for several minutes, we simply sat there, eating, and chatting. Then I noticed that James was being quiet. Most unlike himself.

            "Um…Prongs? You okay?" I asked quietly.

            "What? Oh. Yeah, actually, it's nothing big. I just have this really stupid question in my head," he shrugged.

            "Is it just the question that's stupid?" asked Lily, who happened to have heard us.

            "I'm not stupid! I just don't always like to show my intelligence," James pointed out. "No, what I was wondering is, why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo?"

            I looked at Lily. She looked back at me.

            "Um…" I began, not sure how to finish.

            "Well…"she started, also unsure of what to say.

            It didn't matter, though. We were, in fact, saved by the bell – er, bad sound, rather, that started just a millisecond later.

            "**_I love you, you love me, we're a happy family!!!_**"

            "**_Man, I feel like a woman!_**_"_

"**_I'm a slaaaaave….for you!"_**

            Everyone, save our two gangs, stared at the four Slytherins in shock as they suddenly burst out singing. The looks on their faces were priceless: eyes open wide in surprised horror, mouths singing ridiculous songs without being able to stop. The eight of us were laughing as we never had laughed before. It wasn't only the looks on Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's faces, but also the songs. We had never heard them before, but they were so incredibly stupid, that it was hard not to laugh. After a moment, we were joined by everyone else in the Great Hall. The four singers left in panic, voices still going strong.

            "I…forgot to…tell you," Juniper said between laughs. "The songs…they have to sing…are from…the future. Oh, God, and….they were matched…according to their…..personalities…and the songs…!!!!!"

            "Wait…so Nico Malfoy feels like a woman?" Peter asked.

            "I can see Crabbe and Goyle loving each other and feeling like a family," Remus mused.

            "Snape…a _slave_ for who?" Quinn laughed. I was in tears of amusement, and couldn't say anything. It was quite some time and quite a bit of the teachers yelling before everything got calmed down and straightened out.

            The teachers all tried to seem furious, but couldn't. Even Professor Dumbledore couldn't suppress a smile. "I don't know who did this, even though I have a rather strong inkling," he announced when it was quiet. "But I implore all of you not to do anything of the sort from this point on. It would be most kind of you to oblige this rule, because our current Transfiguration teacher, Professor Taleyes, is retiring after this year, and would highly appreciate it if you would all make her last year a good one." There were many mutters at this, most excited. I personally didn't particularly like the professor, but she wasn't my least favorite either. Our gang exchanged glances, and went back to our food because Dumbledore was done speaking. 

            Later on that night, myself and the rest of the Marauders were sitting discussing the day in our armchairs near the fire, as usual. Now, however, four more had been added, making a total of eight. (Which was a huge coincidence, considering the fact that our group was now eight people, because the Unicorns were sort of part of it…hmm…Dumbledore?)  At any rate, we were griping because the first class of the day tomorrow would be double potions with Slytherin.

            "I _do_ think there'll be some trouble tomorrow," I said, shaking my head, but grinning.

            "Well, of course, I mean, Snape and his cronies will be there, and even they could guess that the little bit of entertainment they provided was courtesy of us," James said, shrugging.

            "True, but that's not exactly what he meant, I think," Peter countered.

            "Ten points to Pete!" I shouted.

            "Okay…then why'll there be trouble?" Remus asked, rolling his eyes. 

            "Actually, I have no idea, but how unlikely is it that we won't think of something else to do to them by class time?" I answered, turning on my smile full blast. Remus simply snorted.

            A few moments later, the girls entered. "Hey guys," Quinn said, smiling at us. They sat down in the empty armchairs, and our conversation soon drifted to other topics. 

            "Are you kidding? The Basilisk Brothers are freaky, not cool!" Rika shouted, wrinkling her nose at James' comment.

            "No, they're awesome! And they always have those wicked special effects onstage!" he countered. "Everyone else agrees. Right?"

            "Definitely! They rock," I agreed.

            "Yeah, I like them too, I guess," Pete shrugged.

            "Okay, I have to say, that though I think their music sucks, the special effects are cool," Remus admitted.

            "Being Muggle-born, I have never heard them, so I can't say a word," Lily said.

            "Same. Well, I've heard of them, but we don't get the wizarding wireless network, so I haven't heard their music, and therefore can't add my opinion," nodded Quinn.

            "What about you, Juniper?" I asked.

            "They're okay, I guess…I'm not really into heavy stuff, but I don't exactly hate them," she answered.

            "Well, what _are _you into?" I asked teasingly.

            "The Weird Sisters!!" she exclaimed.

            "SPELLBOUND!" yelled Lily, Quinn, and Rika at that.

            "Oh, god…"James smacked his forehead. "Girl music!"

            "Well, that's only logical, as we are girls, right?" Juniper retorted with a grin that could nearly rival mine. (Nearly, okay? NEARLY…so not quite!)

            "Ah true…well, it's not that bad of a song, really," I commented.

            "Never heard it," said Remus. "I'm Muggle-born too, and I've only seen some stuff through wizard books and magazines."

            "Really?" asked Rika, looking surprised. "Well, aren't your parents lucky ones, then! Their child isn't non-magical…he's a _werewolf,_ and a _wizard_!"

            "Shhh!" he hissed. "I don't want anyone else to hear."

            "Oh…sorry, Moony."

            The conversation had started to bore me (have I mentioned yet that I have a short attention span?) so I spaced out for a minute. In the center of the circle of armchairs was a table. On it there was a small bowl of fruit, a few magazines, a deck of cards, and a bowl of toothpicks. These were not any toothpicks, however. They were brightly colored sword shaped toothpicks. I grinned as an idea popped into my mind.

            "Prongs," I said, picking a red one up, "I challenge you to a non-magical duel."

            "Hey! Where'd you get that?!" he exclaimed.

            "Sirius, only you would think of something like that," Juniper said, rolling her eyes.

            "Of course…I'm very unique, aren't I?" I replied.

            "Um…suuurrree…" she said, trying to hide a smile.

            By this time, James had figured out that the "swords" were on the table, right in front of him. He picked up a blue one and said, "On guard!" He waved it at me, and everyone burst out laughing.

            I was not to be outdone. "Back, you savage beast!" I shouted, parrying at him. "Back, I say!"

            "Save us, Sirius," Lily pretended to faint in fear.

            "Worry not, fair lady, for I shall save thee from this dreadful monster!" I said, whacking James' sword with mine.

            "Me, the dreadful monster? Look who's talking! No, fair lady, _I_ shall save thee, from _this_ evil villain!" James said, poking me. 

            "Oooh, Lils, you got _two_ heros on the scene for you!" Quinn said slyly to Lily. 

            "Which one shall be your champion?" Rika asked.

            "Let's see…I think I'll chose whichever is the nicest person," Lily smiled at the two of us. We glanced at each other for a moment.

            "Okay, well, never mind, I'll save another fair lady," I said, and thrust my sword at James' shoulder.

            "Same," he added, and quickly blocked my move.

            "What?!" said Lily, feigning hurt. "Am I not beautiful enough?"

            "Um…would you hurt me if I said yes?" answered James.

            "HEY!" she shrieked at pretended to slap his cheek.

            "Oowwww!!! That hurt!" James whined.

            "She didn't even touch you," I laughed.

            "But it still hurt!" James continued, pretending to be in agony. "You know, Padfoot, I think I would've preferred a whack from your sword to this torture!"

            "Oh, you big baby! What, does it need a kiss?" Lily said sarcastically.

            "What'll you do if he says yes?" Juniper said mildly, as if commenting on the weather. 

            "And James, what'll you do if she actually does it?" Remus added.

            Neither James nor Lily said anything. They glanced at each other, blushed a little, and looked at the rest of us, unsure of what to say.

            "I think we have a little intrigue here," Pete announced.

            "I'll say!" put in Rika.

            "Well, Moony, no more ending arguments for us, I think," Quinn said.

            That brought back Lily and James' voices. They began protesting loudly.

            "_No way_, what are you thinking, Quinn?"

            "Bloody hell, no! Not _her_!"

            "God, how could any of you think that?"

            "Moony, you're dead for this!"

            "June, I am so gonna kill you!"

            "I could _never_ like Little Miss Fire-And-Ice!"

            "And _I _could never like Little Mister I'm-A-Jerk James Potter!"

            "Excuse me? _I'm_ not a jerk!"

            "Well then, what are you, an idiot?"

            "I wouldn't be talking!"

            "_Puh-lease_! _Not_ the brightest crayon in the box, are we, Mister Potter?"

            "_We_ includes you! But I guess what you do is considered normal in _some _cultures!"

            "James, give me a break, and try not to let your mind wander, as it's too small to be out by itself!"

            "Well, _Lily,_ I hope you know, you have the right to remain silent, so _please_ shut _up_! Or are you one of those people that starts talking and finds that they _can't_ shut up?!"

            "I'm not going to stop! Besides, this isn't Burger King, so you can't have it your way!"

            James paused to think. "What's Burger King?"

            "UGH! You are so _hopeless_!" Lily muttered through clenched teeth.

            " Not as hopeless as you!"

            "Okay, both of you are being idiots, so just stop it right now!" Remus commanded.

            "Geez…is it such a bad thing to stop fighting?" Quinn said.

            "That's not what-" Lily started.

            "Okay, I know, just quit it," Quinn stopped her.

            "You know, I think it's time we went to our dorms," Rika said, glancing around.

            "Yeah. James needs his beauty sleep," I said.

            "No, I-" James began.

            "Shut up James. Come on, Marauders," Remus said, leading us to the stairs to the dorms.

            "And they were doing so well for a while," Juniper sighed as we trudged up the stairs.

            "I know. Pity, isn't it?" I replied.

            "Definitely," she agreed.

            "But you know," I continued, "I bet they'll end up liking each other, really."

            "What makes you think that?"

            "I dunno. Just a feeling. I mean, isn't it always said that opposites attract?"

            "I guess…"

            At that point, Rika and Peter turned around. "Lily and James, together? In what lifetime?" she asked skeptically.

            "No kidding! Those two _hate_ each other! Geez, Padfoot…I knew you were stupid, but not _that_ stupid!" Pete added, trying not to grin too much.

            "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups," Juniper said, shaking her head.

            "So basically, never underestimate the power of blondes in large groups!" I laughed.

            "Let's _not_ start on that, thank you!" Rika said. 

            "No kidding! I must admit, I am a little bit slow…but as we've been saying, I _am_ a blonde! What's you're excuse, Sirius?" Pete said.

            "Hey!" I objected. Before the argument could really continue any further, I realized that we were at the top of the stairs. "Oh, darn, you we have to split up, and what fun is an argument without the rest of the team?" I said as James and Remus went into our dorm, and Lily and Quinn went into the girls dorm.

            "Oh, Sirius, nice try. I may be on you're side, but even I could see past that!" Juniper smiled.

            "I know…sorry, June. In the event that we ever continue this argument, think about this: when you're arguing with an idiot, make sure that the other person isn't doing the same thing!" I replied. She laughed, and Rika and Pete did too. "Well, g'night June, night Rika."

            "Goodnight Sirius, night Peter!"

            "G'night Rika, goodnight Juniper."

            "Good night guys! See ya in the morning!"

            And with that, we went our separate ways.

***********************************************************************************************

            "**_SIRIUS!"_**

            "Wassamatter? It wasn't me!" I muttered groggily at whoever had awoken me from a very good dream I had been having. 

            "Oh really? Then who, exactly, d'you think put a large picture of Lily, _in a heart shaped frame_, no less, next to my bed?" James asked me sarcastically.

            For once, I didn't quite know what to do. My first instinct was to laugh, which is what I did. James glared at me. Then, I thought, _I know I didn't do it, unless I've started sleepwalking, so assuming that I haven't…who did?_

"Well?" James said, glaring at me furiously.

            "No. I mean, it wasn't me," I shook my head. "I swear, I really didn't do it!" I protested, holding up my hands in defense.

            "Right, and I suppose it was Remus and Peter, then?" James replied skeptically. 

            "Damn! How did he figure it out?" Pete murmured, poking his face out from under the sheets.

            "WHAT?!" James thundered. "I cannot believe the two of you!"

            Pete tried to hold back a smile. It didn't work. I sniggered.

            "Oh, shut it, Padfoot," James muttered, shaking his head. "Wait a second…MOONY!!!! GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!!!"

            There was a sigh from the bathroom, and a second later, Remus strolled out. "Pete, did you spill?" he said.

            "Sorry…I had to! Really! Well, actually, James had already guessed. So I thought I should admit, you know…I mean, it was the honest thing to do," Pete shrugged.

            "Yeah. Right. Well, Prongs, old boy-" Remus began, but was very quickly cut off.

            "WHAT IN BLOODY HELL WERE YOU _THINKING_?!?!?!" James roared.

            "Oh, come on, it was only a joke. Where's your sense of humor today?" Peter asked quizzically, searching through his bureau for clean robes. 

            "What do you mean, _my_ sense of humor? _You two_-"

            "Were just having a bit of fun."

            "Yes, but-"

            "You're being a whiny baby, James."

            At this, James couldn't say anything. It was probably the first time anyone other than his mother or sister had called him a "whiny baby" in such a serious tone, and he had no idea of quite how he should react.

            I couldn't help it. I sniggered again. James whirled around, and glared at me. "That wasn't funny," he said rather sourly.  
            "Then why am I laughing?" I asked, and stopped holding back a fit of laughter. 

            "Alright – that's it," James said, shaking his head. "PILLOW FIGHT!" With that said, he ran at me, and started whacking me with his pillow. I eagerly hit him back, and soon, we were in a full out pillow war, with Remus and Peter joining in.

            About half an hour later, Remus paused to look at his watch. "Bloody hell, we've got class in ten minutes!" he yelled. That brought us back to our senses. Hurriedly, we got dressed, grabbed our books, and dashed out of the dorm room.

            "We made it," Peter panted as we rounded the corner to Charms. 

            "Yeah…and with a minute to spare!" Remus added, grinning. "Wonder what we'll be doing in class today."

            "I don't know, but I know I can do it better than Little Miss Fire-and-Ice!" James muttered savagely.

            I looked at him in shock. "James," I said, "you know she's best in Charms, right?"

            "Doesn't mean a thing," he answered, unperturbed.

            "What doesn't mean a thing?" Lily said, walking up with the rest of the Unicorns in tow. "Hello Peter, hi Remus, hey Sirius…hi James," she added, smiling especially at James.

            "Hey girls," I said, grinning at them. "I was just about to go in the classroom….right now," I continued with a meaningful glance at Remus and Peter.

            "Oh, yes…us too," Remus nodded quickly, and dragged Pete along with him. Towards the door.

            "Ahm, we'll go in, too," Juniper said and motioned to Quinn and Rika.

            The six of us rushed in before Lily and James could realize what we were doing. Unfortunately, they did before the door was closed, so it was rather pointless. But still…it was a good idea.

            "You three….dead…" James growled at me, Peter, and Remus.

            "What? We just didn't want to be too late for class, and you were too slow," Peter replied innocently.

            "Since when do you care about being on time? No, let Remus make an excuse…it's more believable when he says it," I whispered loudly to him.

            James gave us a death glare. I grinned, then looked around for the best seat. The girls had already taken their seats, and other students were quickly filing in. I gave a mad dash for a seat close to the window, next to Juniper.

            "Hey Sirius," she said, grinning at me. "Did James bite your head off completely, or did he leave you the bit of brains you have? Because I have a feeling we're going to have to be partners today, and unlike Lils, Charms isn't my strong suit."

            "Well," I said slowly, "he _did_ take off a large chunk…I'm not sure what's left, really…but I think we can manage. I mean, Lily _is_ right in front of us…"  

            "Sirius Black, there is no way you are—"

            "Is someone sitting here?" asked a voice rather stiffly. We looked up and saw James standing next to Lily, indicating the empty seat by her side. I stifled a rather rude laugh.

            "Um…no, no one's sitting there," she replied just as stiffly. He dropped his books and slumped into the seat. Lily thought for a moment. "Why didn't you find another seat when you first came in?" she added.

            "Stupid Peter…kept me at his seat asking questions about the homework. All other seats were taken," James mumbled, glaring back behind me at Peter, who was too engaged in conversation with Rika to notice. 

            "Um…just out of curiosity, why aren't you girls sitting next to each other?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

            "Oh, because it's much easier to pass notes, or talk this way. The professors never suspect that you're trying to communicate with anyone that's not directly next to you," Juniper explained. 

            I thought about this. It seemed reasonable to me, but before I could respond, Professor Flitwick came in, and class started. I was oddly disappointed that, as I was sitting next to her, I couldn't talk to Juniper during class. I mean, I would've, but now that she had explained the whole conversations-with-people-sitting-next-to-you thing, I couldn't. Well, not a lot, anyways.

             "Good morning, class. In honor of the fact that Halloween is right around the corner—"

            "WHAT?"

            "—we will be studying simple glamour charms today. Now, a glamour is generally a magical disguise, sort of like a second skin. A complex one covers the entire body, includes a change of voice, and is permanent unless removed with a certain spell. We won't be studying those until fourth year at least, maybe later. The ones we will be doing today are simple face masks, and will require the use of a partner."

            "Hmm…you were right. Damn."

            "What you will do is cast a glamour of your face onto your partner's face."

            "Hah! Lucky you."

            "Shush! He'll hear you!"

            "No he won't."

            "To do this, simply keep a clear image of your face in mind, point your wand at your partner's face, and with the old swish-and-flick, say 'desicosa masquero'. All right, then? Okay, let's get to it!" Professor Flitwick said enthusiastically. 

            Before June would say a word, I jabbed Prongs in the shoulder. "Ow…what was that for?" he scowled, rubbing the spot.

            "You didn't remind me! Halloween is in a few days!" I said, pretending to be hurt.

            "Well, I forgot too," he retorted, looking a bit distressed.

            "Oh." I considered this. "Oh, I know why. It's okay then, don't worry, we still have time to plan stuff."

            "You better not be thinking what I hope you're not thinking…" he said, intensifying his glare.

            "I was about to say the same thing. You know, Sirius, I think this year we should call a draw to our inter-group pranking," Juniper interrupted.

            "Call…call a _draw_? To _pranking_?" I said, aghast.

            "No, not entirely…just work together against everyone else instead of it being The Marauders vs. the Unicorns Show," she replied, shrugging.

            I contemplated this, then looked at James for support. He was too busy arguing with Lily to offer any. "Well…I really can't speak for James, but…" Here I took a deep breath. "I guess that sounds fine with me. Well. Within reason, I mean, we might pull something small, but nothing nearly as extensive as last year," I finished.

            Juniper grinned. "Great. I guess the same goes for us. Now, as reluctant as I am…it's time for me to wear your face."

            Several days later, it was Halloween. We Marauders had exchanged trick sweets with the Unicorns, and had a plan set for Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Things were looking great. 

            Our tricky treat for them was being sent by a small owl we borrowed from Joanna. She was very nice about letting us use it, and promised not to tell anyone who had used the owl for that delivery. "Thanks, Rowling," James said, winking at her with what he thought was irresistible charm." She simply smiled, and rolled her eyes. 

            What was being delivered was a pouch of powder. It was something specially concocted by yours truly with some help from Lily and Juniper. The three of us had figured out a good combination of herbs and charms that was very close to the Explosion Potion, only this form of it was a powder that, when mixed with pumpkin juice, would cause a minor explosion. Juniper had then drawn four packets and made them appear to contain Instant-Rum powder. Hopefully, our favorite Slytherin boys would fall for this.

            We waited excitedly at Gryffindor table during the feast. The food was excellent, but nothing could distract our eager ears. The end of the feast was approaching when Joanna's owl arrived at the Slytherin table. The eight of us tried to glance casually over every now and then instead of staring the entire time and making a scene. Precious minutes passed without mishap from the other side of the Great Hall, and I began to worry that Snape and his cronies weren't ever going to use the powder. Seconds ticked away in my brain, and all too soon, it was time to go back to the dorms.

            My heart sank, and I looked at James. He seemed to be just as disappointed as I was at least. With a sign, I got up. The eight of us were halfway to the exit when we heard a large **BANG! **I jumped a bit, then whipped around to see what had happened.

            Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing with their goblets in one hand and an empty powder packet in the other. The goblets were letting off a bit of foul-smelling, bright pink smoke. Covered from head to toe in pumpkin juice, a foul expression on each of their faces completed the look of being freshly drowned just moments ago. There was complete silence in the hall.

            Okay. So we all know I have huge issues with self control by now, right? Well, I wanted to – and should have – waited for someone else to start the laughing. Because then either Snape would suspect them of having done the joke, of at least not have been as onto us as he really was. Yes – I admit it – I was the stupid one who broke the silence with a ridiculously loud laugh, thereby receiving a very evil death glare from Severus, and starting the laughter from everyone else.

            I really hadn't meant to, because I hate being discovered, it was just that he reminded me of Warren, my brother. When we were much younger, I think I was four so Warren was about ten then, Warren wanted to experiment with Mum's wand. While she was busy talking to someone in the fireplace, he grabbed it off the counter in the kitchen and waved it at his cup of water that was a bit aways on the table. I think he was trying to Summon it, but the actual result was the safety lid flying off, and the cup knocking over in a way that enabled what seemed to be all the water to splash onto Warren. He looked like as much of a wet rat as Nico Malfoy did, with the exact same expression as Snape.

            So you see, my incriminating laugh really wasn't that much of my fault. I think if anyone else was in my position, they would've laughed too. But…no one else was. I knew that since we had been discovered, we could very safely expect retaliation of some sort. So, as we made our way back to the tower, I prepared myself for a very interesting Hogwarts career.

************************************************************************************

            As it turned out, the Slytherins must have been rather bad pranksters, because their revenge wasn't in the form of a prank – it was worse. You see, it had taken me from the beginning of November to the beginning of December to convince my mum and dad to let me stay at Hogwarts with the rest of the Marauders and the Unicorns. I really wanted to spend this time just having fun with them, which I knew I wouldn't be able to do if at home. Sadly, it was actually Crabbe and Goyle that managed to get the promised payback and undermine my scheme.

            It was stupid, really, because they cheated quite badly – and it wasn't even artful cheating, as I would've done! During potions, Quinn and I somehow ending up as their partners. We were making a rather foul-smelling Swelling Solution, and everything went fine until Malfoy and Snape intervened. They were sitting behind us, and quietly slipped some Fillibuster's fireworks to Crabbe and Goyle. They then ignited the fireworks and dropped them into the potion, causing an instant explosion. Somehow, both Quinn and I managed to avoid any damage from the potion, which only made it harder for us to say that it hadn't been our fault.

            The stupid potions professor believed Crabbe and Goyle when they said it was our fault, and said he would take off fifty points for each of us. At this, we began loud protests.

            "Do you disagree with me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and glaring.

            "Well, no, but—"

            "But what? You two have been nothing but trouble this year, and I truly do not appreciate this subordination. I will not tolerate it. Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, would you like to suggest a further punishment for these two?" he asked silkily. Crabbe and Goyle grinned stupidly at us.

            "Uh, yeah, uh…we, uh…" Goyle said, getting too excited to talk straight. 

            "Yea, uh, we want, uh, we want…" Crabbe continued just as intelligently.

            "Tell them to, uh, what was it…go home, yea, go home!" Goyle exclaimed, finally getting it out.

            "Yeah, tell them to go home!" Crabbe emphasized this further.

            "Hmm…order them to go home for break…well, that's not even a big punishment. All right then," the professor said, smiling at them. He then glared and us. "Thompson, Black…consider yourselves lucky. This is nothing compared to what I would've chosen. You should thank these two. Now, finish your work. You'll want to hurry…maybe you'll have extra time at the end of class to write home about how you're not going to be away for the holidays after all." He smiled evilly and turned to tend to those who had gotten affected by the potions' explosion.

            "Stupid git…spoiled out plans," I growled in frustration.

            James came over and patted me on the back. "It's okay Padfoot. I think all our mums and dads would be happy if we all go home. I think we all will, and we can visit each other or something during break."

            I sighed. At least I knew they wouldn't all be having fun at Hogwarts without me, but I still wished we could have all stayed.

            All too soon, Christmas break came. We said our goodbyes, promising to owl each other with gifts and letter to arrange a meeting at some point, and took off to our homes. It was nice to be home, I must admit, but one can only take so much of one's relatives ooohing and aaahhing over what a big boy he has become. Before long, I was aching to go back.

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            Okay….*whew*. That took WAAAYYYY too long, didn't it? oh well….hope you all enjoyed it….sorry it took so long! So, questions? Comments? Email me…new addy: ksingco@thacher.org , ok? I'd LOVE to hear from people. Now…GO REVIEW!!!! Luv u!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tora


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